APR FC head coach Adil Erradi Mohamed has described his club’s 50-match unbeaten run as ‘historic’ and insists it should inspire them to do better at continental stage.
The army side had not lost a league game nor a single home match at African club competitions under the Moroccan tactician until Mukura beat them 1-0 last week in a league match that was played over two days.
The defeat was the first since Erradi took over at the club in July 2019. With the 50-match unbeaten run, the tactician set the bar high for local rivals clubs.
In an exclusive interview with Weekend Sport, Erradi reflects on the club’s unbeaten run, what it means for him as a coach and his plan to transform the club into chasers of African club’s silverwares.
APR did not lose a single league match since your appointment in 2019 until last week. What does this achievement mean to you as a coach?
I am very happy because it’s history, it’s a great achievement. It’s been such a great performance that we had not lost any match (official or friendlies, and home games in Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup) since my arrival at APR.
The milestone is down to the collective hard work of the whole APR FC family – from club management and technical staff to the players and fans.
Mukura defeated your club to bring the 50-match unbeaten run to an end. Did the result surprise you?
First of all, I would like to congratulate Mukura. We lost the match in difficult circumstances as you know we played the match in two days because of the bad weather. But, I knew I would eventually taste a defeat one day. It [the result] is part of football but after playing 50 matches without a defeat, we all relaxed because the number that we targeted to achieve was 49 matches.
I prefer to be stopped by Mukura than by another rival like Rayon Sports.
This is the longest unbeaten run in the history of Rwandan football at club level. Do you think the record can be broken any time soon?
Everything is possible in football but I think it’s difficult to do it very quickly because such a performance needs a lot of collective work, a lot of means plus a wise management to deliver to all the details that lead to a great performance consistently.
Do you think going 50 matches unbeaten speaks to the strength of your club or the weakness of your opponents?
The league is very difficult. We dig very deep to win matches, let alone the championship.
There are many factors that come into play in order to achieve a good performance; on and off the field of play.
Not losing 50 matches was not due to the will of our opponents. Everyone wants to win against APR, and that really pushed us to take all the matches as finals and we managed to get results.
What do you attribute leading APR to 50 matches without a defeat?
A good result in football is attributed to collective efforts. I tried to fulfill my part in a professional manner, and others did their part as well. Without commitment from the rest of the APR family (leaders, fans, players, staff), we would not have achieved the feat.
What’s your take on the title race so far this season?
The objective of APR is to retain the title. We managed to finalize the first phase 5 points clear at the top, statistically speaking it is the best performance we have had since July 2019.
Do you think the club you have can finally break boundaries and make a difference at the continental level?
First you must understand one thing that to impose at the continental level requires a lot of interventions. We are growing day by day and I can affirm that the APR family works every day with great will to achieve this objective.
We performed better in 2021 compared to 2020 in continental club competitions, and that is good progress.